Heaven's Poison
by Ryoumafan
Summary: <html><head></head>Pre-01 AU. OCs. For remi's what-if and novel with prompts challenge. Five children run away from home for their own reasons and end up in another world. In the beginning, it's always fun. You can't escape forever. Book 0 of the original Chosen of Garden of Eden.</html>


**Author's notes**: Hi everyone! This is rated T for death, violence and occasional otherworld cursing. This story will take place in the same time frame as _lost in other sounds_, beginning earlier and carrying on until just before. This fic is for the novel with prompts and "what if" challenges. The prompt used for this chapter is 'jaded'.

Welcome to _Heaven's Poison_ everybody. Enjoy the ride~

…

Chapter 1: Kohaku

Kohaku Kimura was a Digital Human. She stood on the bank of a river in Server, watching the water stream past in peaceful silence. The rushing sound of the water soothed the part of her that was restless and she eased into a slouch, feeling relaxed in the quiet moment. She and her Digimon partner, Ryuudamon, were based on Server as that was where the Order – of which she was a part of – had told her was the continent the Child of Light would arrive on.

The eleven-year-old sighed boredly, picking at her brown pants. Waiting for the Child of Light wouldn't be as exhausting as it was if she actually had something to do. She flicked her black fringe out of her amber eyes, the movement scrunching up the tan hood of the robe she wore, before she glanced behind her. A small, bipedal tan dragon with purple stone-studded black armour on his back and a helmet of sorts on his head walked leisurely towards her.

"Neh, Haku?" Ryuudamon began cheekily. He earned a light bop over the head in jest for his teasing, which made him become serious. "How much longer until Light arrives?"

Kohaku detected the smallest hint of whining in her partner's question, but dismissed it since he wasn't going to admit it himself. He was too proud to do something like that. The girl stared down into the young dragon's green eyes. "I'm not sure, Ryuudamon," she answered sympathetically. She could sense that he was perturbed for some reason, but wasn't sure what it was. "Gennai said he was planning something big for August the first... We've been here since the middle of March, so another three and a half months, I guess."

"Maa, I'm so tired of waiting. Why did he have to make it so far away?" Ryuudamon grumbled gruffly.

Kohaku snorted in amusement, a smile crossing her lonely face. The snort became a chuckle, which she tried to hide from her partner, but he heard her and whipped his head around, eyes narrowing. The chuckle then became full-blown laughter, sounding as light as drizzling rain after a long drought.

"What are you-" Ryuudamon began to ask bluntly, but cut himself off as his eyes widened in surprise. His partner, though not a real human anymore, was honest to Holy Beast _laughing!_ He couldn't believe it. She hadn't truly laughed since four years ago. The young dragon had almost given up on hearing the sound again.

Kohaku managed to regain her composure and stop laughing. "Aha, sorry Ryuudamon. Your gruffness always makes me laugh." It wasn't the complete truth, but it was close enough to it. She was pretty good at hiding her true feelings.

Ryuudamon heard the near-nonexistant waver in his Chosen Child's voice and turned his eyes to her again. "Kohaku..." He gave a forceful reminder. She shook her head, however. In her opinion, now was not the right time.

"It's okay, Ryuu," Kohaku murmured, absentmindedly stroking the Digimon's helmeted head.

"Kohaku, _seriously_. You will have to tell the new Chosen the truth of it all when they arrive. Keeping things secret won't help anyone," the Child level stubbornly insisted, not at all understanding why his Chosen Child chose not to reveal things that mattered to him, to the Digital World in its time of crisis.

Kohaku glanced down at Ryuudamon, her own eyes narrowed as she spoke calmly but firmly. "Don't lecture me, please. I am not in the mood for it." She paused, before continuing. "Ryuudamon, if you had siblings and you suddenly disappeared, would you hope that they went looking for you?"

The question caught Ryuudamon off-guard and he looked at the girl in surprise. "Well, yes, but what does that have to do-"

"Because my own brothers haven't come looking for me," Kohaku whispered, her voice cracking with the despair and loneliness that had built up over four years.

She had felt so alone, so cut off from the real world after falling through the barriers that she isolated part of herself, deciding to hide her true feelings. Normally, Ryuudamon could pick up on her 'defensive deception' straight away, but she had gotten so good at it lately that he was having trouble.

"It's alright, Kohaku. I'm sure Kouichi and Kouji will come looking for you eventually," Ryuudamon did his best to reassure his Chosen Child that her brothers would come. The young dragon didn't know when, but somehow sensed the three siblings would be reunited in the near future.

"I hope so," Kohaku breathed.

Ryuudamon had trouble talking about his softer emotions and hoped Kohaku wouldn't continue the current topic. He felt relieved when she fell silent, so he glanced up at her, about to suggest they keep waiting for the Child of Light. He was not all that surprised to see her eyes closed, her body trembling as she fought back the tears.

"Come now. That's enough, Kohaku," the Child level admonished forcefully. He didn't like using his forceful tone, only needing it normally when Kohaku resisted something that was going to happen anyway.

After a minute, she calmed herself. "Sorry," Kohaku murmured, feeling ashamed for losing control of her emotions like that. Ryuudamon nodded understandingly, patting her leg with his right paw, telling her silently everything would be alright.

…

In the entrance way of the Highton View Terrace apartment complex stood two boys, standing opposite each other. One raised his head and turned it slightly, slate grey eyes shadowed by bangs of windswept light brown hair. He wondered if the other had been drawn here by the same enigmatic feeling that had lured him to the complex's garden.

"What are you doing here?" He tried to phrase the question casually, but knew straight away it came off as abrupt. He winced, hoping the other male wouldn't take offence.

At first, there was silence as a gust of wind tugged at the boys' clothes. The first boy absently pulled at his long-sleeved, midnight blue silk shirt, before brushing a hand over his trousers which were the same colour.

"Name's Isamu," the second boy introduced himself politely. "Isamu Koyanagi." Isamu faced the boy across from him and nonchalantly ran his fingers through his ruby hued-dark brown hair. His light brown eyes lit up with happiness at just existing.

He glanced around, as if studying his surroundings, before returning to the boy's inquiry. "I felt it, too," he answered cryptically, slinging his hands into the pockets of his black pants. "It's what drew you here, wasn't it? The lure of some mysterious force?"

"Yuudai," the other boy drew out his name sarcastically. "You're not getting my last name, you mystic freak!" He spat angrily, lunging and grabbing Isamu's casual dress shirt.

A rational part of his mind told him he was reacting irrationally, but Yuudai was pissed off that this boy, who appeared to be a year younger than him, knew more about the unknown power than he did.

Isamu seemed to chuckle lightly, despite the situation he was currently in. "Easy there, bro," he remarked, amused.

Yuudai snarled, his expression twisting into fury. "_I'm not your brother!_" He shouted.

And then, the solar eclipse that had been predicted to happen that day finally occurred when the moon passed in between the earth and sun at 11:45AM.

When it passed, Isamu, Yuudai and two girls had vanished from Hikarigaoka.

…

What ifs used for this fic are below...

1. What if becoming DigiDestined and/or spending excessive amounts of time in the Digital World lead to becoming a Digital Human?

2. What if there were no Digivices?


End file.
